The Tycoon's Hidden Sweetheart

Here's the deal I made: play the billionaire's kept girl, keep the money coming, and never, not once, get attached.

I held up my end. Every part of it.

Then I went and got pregnant with his baby.

So I floated it one night, careful, like it was nothing.

What would you do if a baby ever showed up? One you never planned for.

"I wouldn't have one," he said.

"But if you did."

He caught my chin between two fingers, barely interested. "Then she and I would have a problem. I don't put babies in women I'm not keeping forever." A pause. "I hate hypotheticals, baby."

My vision went white.

Fine. I'd take care of it quietly. He'd never even know.

Except the next morning he was sitting on the edge of the bed with my phone in his hand, and his face had gone somewhere very dark.

He tipped my chin up. His voice would've been gentle on anyone else. On him it was the most dangerous thing in the room.

"Tell me what this abortion appointment means."

A beat.

"You're pregnant. Aren't you."

Chapter 1

My father is a legend.

Never married. Six mistresses, a whole soccer team of kids. I came in seventh. Right in the unremarkable middle.

I should've been the daughter nobody noticed. Problem was, I turned out beautiful.

My mother was a small-time actress, easy on the eyes to start with, and I took the best of the two of them and ran with it. I couldn't make it a block without a talent scout stopping me. Eight in one afternoon, once.

My drawer never ran out of snacks and love letters. My admirers could've lined up from Times Square to the Eiffel Tower.

My biggest problem in life was how to get them all to give up.

Then I got a different problem.

My father's company started bleeding money. And his brilliant fix, that koala-smooth brain of his hard at work, was to point me at a billionaire and let nature take its course.

I could have said no.

I didn't. I had my reasons, and not one of them was him. So I said yes, and I played the part.

It worked out, mostly. I'm beautiful, so the billionaire was pleased. He lifted one finger and my father's company was breathing again.

My father was thrilled. The billionaire was thrilled.

I was the only one who wasn't.

And now something had happened that made me a great deal less thrilled than that.

I dropped the test in the trash, pulled a few tissues loose, and folded them over it. Buried.

Kill me.

Pregnant.

My heart would not slow down.

Someone knocked on the bathroom door. A low voice, the kind that pours. "Baby. Why's the door locked?"

His voice was gorgeous.

Hearing it just made everything worse.

"I'm in the shower," I said, reaching for any excuse at all.

"It's not like we haven't showered together," he said through the door. "Open up, baby."

If you're going to lie, commit. I stripped fast, wrapped a towel, and unlocked the door.

I didn't even get his face in focus before I landed against a wide, warm chest. He folded me in, chin settling on the top of my head.

Petitgrain and bitter orange. That scent always caught on something in me, like a name sitting just out of reach.

He spoke before I could.

"That girl you saw today," he said. "Someone I went to middle school with. She said my name. I couldn't place her, and I only talked to her because I couldn't work out how she knew mine. She's nothing to me."

"She was nothing to me back then either. I've never dated anyone. Never had anything close."

His voice didn't rise. It never had to.

"I could've told you all of that the second we left. I didn't, because I wanted to watch you get jealous." His mouth brushed my hair. "Stop being angry, baby."

He was still talking. I wasn't hearing it.

"I'm not angry," I said.

"You are. You're in a mood."

That was because my period hadn't come.

I don't have irregular periods. But last month was his birthday, and he'd asked for a few things, and we didn't leave the room for a full day and night.

I forgot the pill.

I made myself relax and looped my arms around his neck. "Nope. You're imagining things."

Chapter 2

He looked down at me.

I blinked. "Really. Nothing."

The crease between his brows didn't budge.

"You are."

There was no arguing with him, and I didn't want to. I tipped up and kissed him instead, fingers already working his belt.

He caught my wrist and stepped back. "Why is it always this."

Then he let go and walked out of the bathroom.

I stared after him.

I turned to the mirror. No makeup, still gorgeous. Body of the year. So it definitely wasn't me.

What was his problem.

By the time I got out of the shower, he'd taken his pajamas and shut himself in without a word.

I couldn't figure out what he was sulking about. He accused me of being angry. He was the angry one.

I flopped onto the bed and opened my farming game, half-plotting how to win him back later.

He had somewhere to be that night, and he'd texted me to come pick him up.

The man has a driver. He didn't need me for a single thing. I chalked it up to him hating that I don't work and wanting to hand me a task.

I went.

I don't like the way that club smells, so I waited out front.

I'd left early to avoid being late, which meant standing around a while. I crouched by the curb and watched the ants haul food, and, being a generous soul, cracked open a pack of crackers to share the crumbs.

By the time the ants dragged the third crumb down the hole, Xavier finally came out.

At six-two, he stood a clean head above the crowd. To his left, my father, all five-foot-six of him, wore the most fawning smile I've ever seen on a grown man.

I'd just pinched off another crumb, about to stand, when a girl came flying at him, skirt gathered in one hand.

"Xavier, did you come to see me?"

Her voice was bright, chin tipped up, eyes shining. "You knew I flew back today, didn't you?"

Huh.

Old flames, reuniting.

I crouched back down.

Ants. Very soothing.

Another crumb. Gone in seconds.

God, I'm a good person. These ants would not be going hungry tonight.

My phone buzzed in my pocket.

Him: [Baby, are you here yet?]

Here. Watching ants.

I finished the crackers, stood, and called over to him. "I'm right here."

He turned and crossed to me in long strides.

I meant to walk toward him too. I made it exactly one step before I seized up.

Bad news. My leg had gone dead from crouching.

He closed the distance fast and pulled me in. "Missed you, baby."

I opened my mouth to answer and caught the girl still there, a little way off, watching me with a flat, dark look.

My brain misfired. "Done catching up with your old flame?"

He frowned. "What?"

"Nothing."

"Baby, I"

"Can we just go home?" I cut in.

Enough with the baby. My leg was asleep. It was awful. Kill me.

He took my hand and said nothing.

In the car I kept my head down, frantically googling how to wake up a dead leg, ignoring him. The silence held the whole way home.

Once my leg came back to life, I bounced off to attack the pile of unopened packages.

Two boxes in, I hit the box of pads. And it landed on me. The important question.

I grabbed my phone and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

I lied through my teeth. "Been stuck inside all day. Just getting some air."

He didn't stop me.

Chapter 3

I took the long way to a drugstore, bought a test, and brought it home. Followed the instructions to the letter.

Positive.

Great.

Kill me.

I rolled around on the bed for a while, then pulled up a health forum and read everything I could find about the procedure. Booked a screening at a hospital nearby.

Appointment confirmed right as Xavier stepped out of the shower.

I closed the app and opened my game, wanting to look at him, not daring to. My head was a mess.

My character died again. Then Xavier caged me in from behind.

His mouth wandered along my neck. It tickled.

"Baby. You just snuck twelve looks at me."

Was it that many?

I hooked an arm around his neck. "So I looked. I'll do more than look." I kissed him.

Xavier is very kissable. Soft mouth, a little cool. Kiss him long enough and it goes hot.

He likes it when I start things. Then he takes over.

He kissed me hard. I looked up at him through the haze and traced his brows with a fingertip.

Handsome. Great body, too. Two good-looking parents. A kid would turn out fine, wouldn't it.

I caught my breath against him. "How do you feel about a kid nobody planned for? One that just shows up. In a setup like ours."

His brows pulled together, distaste surfacing. "I'd hate it."

Oh.

Right. Forget the kid, then.

We're an arrangement, he and I. A baby has no business in a deal like this. He'd feel cornered. And I'd become exactly what everyone already whispers I am, the girl who trapped him for his money.

Better to handle it quietly. Before he got tired of me.

"What if you had one anyway," I said, thoughtful. "One you didn't plan for."

"I wouldn't."

"But if."

He caught my wrist and pinned it above my head. "I'd handle it."

Curious: "Handle it how."

"I don't leave loose ends."

Before I could puzzle over that, he had me flat on my back.

His voice dropped, rough. "I don't like this hypothetical, baby."

He caught my chin and kissed me again, teeth closing on my lip, filthy with it. "Ask me one more time and find out how far I'll go to keep you."

One sentence, and he'd gone from zero to obsessed.

Then my brain caught up. Something wasn't right.

"Wait. Wait, wait."

Where exactly did he think that hand was going. Pretty sure pregnant meant a hard no.

I looked up at him, pitiful. "I'm not feeling great today. Can we do this another way?"

I slid down and reached for his belt, tipping my head back to look at him.

Xavier hauled me right back up. He frowned and pressed the back of his hand to my forehead. "Where does it hurt?"

He glanced at the date and pulled me into his lap. "Your period's late this month. Is your stomach cramping?" He tugged the blanket around me and tucked me in. "I'll get you some ibuprofen."

I grabbed his arm. "No, no. Nothing hurts."

He studied me a long moment, and only let the ibuprofen go once he was sure I wasn't in pain.

His warm palm rubbed slow circles over my stomach. No cramps, but it did feel nice.

I started getting sleepy. "You sure you don't want me to help you out?"

He bit my ear, harder than usual. "If you don't feel good, sleep. Don't be greedy."

I wasn't greedy. He shouldn't just say things like that.

The next morning a ringtone dragged me awake.

No idea who was calling. I groped for the phone, half-asleep, and missed.

"Keep sleeping, baby."

A hand patted my back, slow.

I was too tired to fight it. I rolled deeper into him and went right back under.

When I finally surfaced from the second stretch of sleep, I opened my eyes straight into a pair of black ones.

Xavier, staring. Fixed. Not blinking.

Something in the look was off.

Chapter 4

How do I put this. Most mornings, Xavier wakes up looking at me one of two ways. Hungry, or soft.

Today was neither.

Today put a chill down the back of my neck.

"Xavier?" I plucked at his sleeve, careful.

What was wrong with him?

He had my phone in his hand. He must've been the one who answered the call.

Was it something someone said? I raked through my brain for who would even call me. Telemarketers, my father, the home nurse. Not one of them could put that look on his face.

So what was this.

He wound a strand of my hair around one finger. His voice came out low and rough. "Baby. Are you keeping something from me?"

I shook my head on instinct. "Keeping what?"

He leaned down and tipped my chin up, slow.

"Then explain something to me." His thumb dragged along my jaw. "The screening in your notes. The abortion you booked."

"You're pregnant. Aren't you, baby